I had my best experience to date at the 2009 Breast Cancer 3 Day. Every year is great but 2009 was the best yet. Not only because my family once again came and cheered me on but I had a larger team this year. In 2008 my team was a team of two, in 2009 we had seven walkers. I was happy to have four new friends join my team as well as one of them being my best friends.  It was also great to have four survivors on our team.  The weekend began early with a girl’s road trip. My husband was out of town on business so it was my job to drive the RV to “Campland on the Bay” where we were staying for he next 3 nights. Joining me on this little drive was my daughter Emily and three other team mates. A fourth team mate was flying into San Diego from Seattle and staying at The Dana on Mission Bay with some of our team mates. My husband was flying into San Diego as well and arrived at the “Campland”  just as we were checking in. We were all settled in at about 9pm, then it was time to get some sleep for our early morning the next day.

Friday morning we woke up early loaded the family in the car and headed to the Dana to pick up some team mates. Then off to Del Mar Fairgrounds to meet up with our other 2 team mates. We  meet up with some other friends that walk on other teams as well as some 3 Day friends I have meet at past walks and some new twitter friends. It doesn’t matter how many opening ceremonies I see I still get choked up every time. It was special for me to have my daughter at opening ceremonies with my husband for the last 2 years, this always makes for a great send off. After opening ceremonies we headed out with the other 3800 walkers it was a beautiful day and I enjoyed every mile.

At lunch we meet up with my friend Donna who was Crewing the Lunch Pit Stop, Lunch was great and she made sure we had everything we needed. After lunch we went to the car were my husband had our extras, we changed our socks and some of our team needed shoe changes. Then we headed off to finish the day. Day 1 was long, we left lunch near the back of the pack so we picked up the speed a little (made quicker pit stops) so that we wouldn’t have to be sweep from a pit stop. We made it to camp just as the sun was setting, a beautiful ending to a beautiful day. After dinner was over we assessed our feet, legs, and other pains. One team member a 2 year survivor was struggling a little after dinner but by morning she was feeling great.

Day 2 was off to a slow start once again as my friend had some credential issues, but once we got started we had another beautiful day. Day 2 was extra special as I had friends make the drive down to cheer us on at the Cheering Stations. I was touched that both families made the 1 and 2 hour drive just to come cheer us on  with my family, this was the first year that I had friends come cheer me on. Our team was split up into 3 different walking groups this day and we had fun communicating our where abouts to each other via pictures on Twitter and Facebook. When we entered a pit stop we would take our photo and send it so that other groups knew how far behind we were. They would send photos back stating their location. After lunch we meet up with  Benette a 7 time 3 day walker who lost her mom 42 years ago when Benette was 30. Yes Benette is 72 and walking her 7th 3 Day. We walked with her for a while and enjoyed her stories. I hope I’m that active when I’m 72.

Then we came across a familiar face, I saw Gillian Larson, from the TV show Survivor. I had totally forgot that she told me months before that she was organizing a bunch of Reality Stars to come down and set up a cheering section. It was fun seeing people from some of the show that I love to watch, the Mole, Amazing Race, and Survivor. Gillian had walked the 3 Day in 2008 and in 2009 she was part of the Medical Crew. After we left them and continued down the board walk along the route I walked with a man named Gary for a while. He and his girl friend were doing the walk; they hadn’t been touched personally by the disease but signed up to as a way to motivate themselves to be more active. Gary’s girlfriend had to get a ride back to camp due to blisters but I did meet up with the both of them on Day 3 in Pit 1. She was doing better, medical had taken good care of her and she was out walking on Day 3.

At the last pit stop I was glad to see my husband and daughter once more before making the final stretch back to camp. When we entered camp we were welcomed by our other team members who had already finished.   We also meet up with Donna who was on Crew and her cousin that was walking once again this year. As we walked through camp we spoke with Barry “Mr. April”, Barry walks or crews every event during the year. I had first seen Barry in San Francisco in 2008 and it was great to see him still out there supporting the cause. After dinner some of team Walkers 4 Life headed to the Big Tent to watch the finals of the 3 Day Rock Star, and then kicked up our heels during the Dance Party.

Dance Party!  I have never had the energy let alone have feet that could dance at the end of Day 2. But not this year, this year I was feeling great.  Every year I was advise to take Glutamine while training and during my 60 miles to help with muscle fatigue. This year once again took the Glutamine powder and added a Recovery drink by Natures Sunshine (a supplement to Gatorade), Recovery helps keep the body hydrated and replaces certain nutrients that are used or perspired away during higher levels of activity such as walking 60 miles. I took the Glutamine powder every morning and again at lunch along with the  Recovery drink three times a day. Taking these helped my have the best walk yet, my muscles were much less sore than in previous years yet. On Monday morning my legs were feeling good and the stairs in my house were not a problem this year.  All this made it my best 3 Day walk yet, and once again blister free due to my great Thorlos socks.

Robin Shannon
Team Walkers 4 Life

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